Sharnette Mitchell

We Need Each Other: A Conversation with Sharnette Mitchell Robert: Sharnette, what does “We Need Each Other” mean to you? Sharnette: I’ve spent my career in corporate America, and I’ve watched people climb the ladder and sometimes forget the people who helped them get there. But nobody does life completely by themselves. Whether it’s a friend, a pastor, a doctor, a parent, or someone who believed in you, we all depend on other people in some way. Everybody wants to feel needed, wanted, appreciated, and understood. We need each other. Robert: Who has helped you understand that most deeply in your own life? Sharnette: My daughter, O’Shea, and her father. I was a single parent, but I’ve always thanked her father because he gave me something nobody else could have given me: this particular child that I love so much. And I tell my daughter all the time that I appreciate her. I poured my life into her, but I’ve learned so much from her, too. Sometimes she’ll repeat something I told her years ago at exactly the moment I need to hear it. That’s when you realize they were listening. Robert: What has O’Shea taught you about relationships? Sharnette: She reminded me that sometimes we need new people in our lives to help us grow. I told her once, “Don’t get rid of the old friends, but get new friends, too.” Old friends know who you were. New friends can challenge you and see something different in you. She recently told me that a new friendship was helping her grow, and I thought, there it is again: we need each other. Sometimes we need people before we even realize we need them. Robert: Was there someone in your career who showed you what it means to truly advocate for another person? Sharnette: One of my VPs at IBM, Lori. Years after I had worked with her, an opening came up and she came back for me. She advocated for me, gave me an opportunity to shine, and told me I was worth more than where I had been placed. I thanked her because people don’t have to do that. For somebody to see something in you, remember you, and come back to help you is powerful. Robert: When you look back at your career, what are you most proud of? Sharnette: The friendships. A job is a job. It’s really the people who make the difference. I have friends from IBM that I’ve known for 28 years, and we still get together every month. At this point, they’re family. Those lasting relationships mean more to me than any title or position I had. Robert: What do you want people to carry with them from your story? Sharnette: Appreciate people while they’re here. Tell them what they mean to you. Don’t wait until a funeral to talk about how much somebody mattered. Treat people right. Be genuine. Be forthright. And remember that no matter how independent we think we are, there are people who helped us become who we are. We need each other.